"I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." Ps.119:32

Hey there! I’m just popping in to let you know that I have decided to do all of my blogging at Heart, Soul and Strength. I was going to try keeping one blog for food and one for other stuff, but I don’t want to keep up with two different blogs. So, I am blogging here about whatever I feel like blogging about:) Hope you’ll come visit!

Hey there my friends! I know it’s been a while since I have posted and I should get the ‘Slacker’ award for my blog, but things have just been~~well, HARD! Many of you know that I have struggled with eating issues and body image in the past, and if you didn’t already know, ya do now 🙂 So, when I saw a new Dr. back in January, he wanted me to eat~grain free, diary free, gluten free, totally sugar free, AND low-oxalate! Can you say OVERWHELMED?!! Have you ever had someone tell you couldn’t have a certain thing? Then, after being told you couldn’t have that certain thing, did you then want it with everything in you?! Well, I know that feeling all too well!

I think sometimes the more ‘rules’ we have, the more we want what we can’t have. I also know that food rules STRESS ME OUT!!! I have reverted back to wanting to lose weight and counting every calorie that goes into my mouth. I have reverted back to feeling like a failure because I can’t seem to follow all the ‘rules’! I have been very critical of my body even though I am at a healthy weight. My point is~THIS IS NO WAY TO LIVE!!

I talked with the Dr. this morning about some hormonal issues and was totally honest with him about my struggles with food. I am SO relieved that he agreed with me that the main thing is THAT I EAT HEALTHY! I know I have to stay gluten and diary free and low-oxalate does seem to be a good thing. As far as staying grain free~forget it!

Anyway, it is HARD work for me to keep my thinking in the right place about food and body image. I am at a healthy weight, but I still have to battle the wrong thinking. I know there are SO many women in the world that struggle with this kind of thing. I know I am not alone and I know that God is the only one that can truly change my heart! I also know that God wants my focus to be on Him rather than eating a perfect diet or having a certain body. I think it’s kind of ironic that we (or at least I) can be so caught up in eating a ‘perfect’ diet when in reality the STRESS from trying to do that is probably worse on our health than eating a non-perfect diet!

I know this another picture-less post, but I just wanted to give an honest update 😉

Well, it looks like I have not been in the mood for blogging lately~oops! I am still trying to figure this ‘diet’ thing out and it has not been easy. I have had some wonderful meals and think I should take a picture and post on my blog, but I’m just not feelin’ it 😉 I am NOT quiting my blog all together, just kind of trying to re-group. Hope you’ll be patient with me and keep stopping by. I will be back to ‘normal’ soon~whatever that means~I mean, who defines ‘normal’ anyway?

Hey everybody! How is your week going? Mine has been pretty busy and a little confusing. I haven’t been posting because of my confusion 😉

It all started this past Saturday evening. My stomach started feeling like~well, I don’t know what it felt like, but it wasn’t good! Let’s just say I almost ended up going to the ER. I was in SO much pain I hyperventilated really bad and thought I was going to meet my maker~not to mention scared the bajeebers out of my poor hubby who was trying his best to get me to relax and breathe. I actually got mad at him at one point for telling me to breath because of course I WANTED to breathe! It kind of reminded me of being in labor, only there was no cute little baby to reward me at the end!

So, obviously I made it through that episode, but things just haven’t been right and I’m not sure why. I talked to my Dr. and he said to stop taking calcium citrate with magnesium. He was thinking the magnesium in it was the problem. I stopped taking it and still~something is not right. Way too many trips to the bathroom (tmi)! I know it’s not the stomach flu that seems to be floating around the world because I don’t feel ‘sick’. My gut is just not happy 😦 I keep wondering if maybe it’s the beloved coconut bread I have been eating so I am going to ‘try’ really hard NOT to eat any coconut flour today. I WILL be very SAD 😦 if it turns out that I am having trouble with coconut flour. It does have lots of fiber in it though.

I haven’t had any spectacular meals to show you because, frankly, I’m at a loss as to what to eat at the moment. Hopefully, things will be back to normal ASAP. My Dr. did say that I could eat some rice or oats if I feel like I need to. He isn’t totally against me eating grains at this point. He also said I could use a tiny bit of honey as long as I don’t go wild with it 🙂 I was going to make some Pumpkin Coconut Flour muffins that call for honey, but I guess that will have to wait. Maybe some rice is just what my tummy needs~who knows~.

I have had a couple of people ask about the recipe for the coconut flour bread that I am eating these days so I thought I would post it today. I originally found the recipe at Life As A Plate. I just found this blog not long ago and I am ever so glad that I did! I have made several changes though and thought I would show you what I do. Actually, my daughter usually makes this for me 😉 I think I’ve only made it once.

Coconut Flour Bread

I didn’t change much from the original recipe but I needed it to be dairy free. I used to use real organic butter in the bread before I realized I needed to cut out dairy. It was SUPER yummy with real butter! Now, I am using Earth Balance dairy free/soy free butter. It’s good that way too. Anyway, here is the recipe my daughter makes for me:

Pour into greased loaf pan and sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbs. sesame seeds if using. I use a small loaf pan~not a regular size but not mini loaf either~not sure what size mine is exactly because I’ve never measured it 🙂

Bake @ 325 for 40 minutes. I always cover mine with foil after the first 15 minutes to keep top from burning but your oven may be different than mine.

Let cool in pan for a bit then take out of pan and cool the rest of the way on cooling rack. Slice and enjoy! A BIG thank you to Life As A Plate~this bread has changed my life! 🙂

Okay, now I have a small confession to make. I ‘cheated’ on my ‘diet’ last night! I ate a couple of things I wasn’t supposed to! Cereal has always been one of my favorite foods and when I’m tired and don’t feel like making anything else, I WANT CEREAL!! Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t want people to think that I have it all together and I never cheat!! I am not always the best at doing what I’m told to do to better my health 😉 I WANT to stick to the ‘diet’ that has been prescribed for me, but sometimes, I’m weak and cave. Any tips you may have would be greatly appreciated! 🙂

About 2 or 3 times a month, our church meets in small groups at different people’s homes~we call it care group. Last night, I had the honor of making snacks. I picked a recipe that I can’t eat, but I can at least look at it 🙂

Cookie and Cream Cheesecake Bars

I found this recipe at Living Graciously blog. They must have been really good, because they were GONE! They were easy to make too and I may make them again sometime soon for my family. The biggest problem I had making them was the SMELL!! They smelled SO good. I felt like a smoker who has quit and just wants to take in the smell. Anyway, that was torture!

So what did I have for dessert yesterday? Well, after my very late lunch, I still had a hankering for something and then remembered this:

frozen cherries with coconut milk

I put about 6-8 frozen cherries in a small prep bowl and put about 1-1/2 Tbs. of canned coconut milk over the top. The coconut milk freezes on the cherries for a yummy little treat!

I used to do this all the time and have posted about it at some point. The difference is, back then I would put dark chocolate chips on top, and now I must settle for no chocolate. It’s still yummy though! If you can have chocolate, I encourage you to give it a try with it 😉

Well, I’m off to physical therapy. Hope you all have a beautiful day!

What is your favorite dessert? If I could eat anything I want, I think my pick would probably be pecan pie 🙂 with ice cream of course!

I know, Christmas is long gone, but I’m making a different kind of list. I’m back to Living Free after a long break! I have been blogging at Heart, Soul and Strength lately . That blog is mostly about health stuff, but I have found myself wanting to talk about FOOD!!

I am currently on a gluten free, grain free, dairy free, sugar free (not even stevia), low oxalate diet! What a mouthful! So, the other day I was feeling completely overwhelmed by all of this and I thought ‘I just need to make a list!’. I started going through the low-oxalate food list and grain free cookbooks and writing down different possibilities for meals that meet all of my dietary restrictions. That way, when I feel lost and overwhelmed, I can just go to my list and pick out a meal~and KNOW that is it safe 🙂 Whew!

Normally when people go grain free, they rely more on nuts and nut flours, but I can’t do that because of oxalates. My stand by flour these days is coconut flour and I LOVE it! Anyway, I wanted to show you what I had to eat yesterday.

Spirulina smoothie with 2 boiled eggs

I had been stumped as to how to make a smoothie with NO sweetener of any kind. My fruits are pretty limited due to oxalates so no bananas in this baby! Then I remembered~coconut water! I used 3/4 c. coconut water, 1/4 coconut milk(canned), 1 tbs. ground flax, 1-1/2 tsp. spirulina powder, frozen mango and pineapple.

Lunch:

Chicken, mashed cauliflower, coconut flour bread w/ avocado

That’s not a very good picture, but I can assure you, it was delicious! I cooked the chicken in wheat free tamari and some herbs and had garlicky mashed cauliflower. The bread and avocado were just the icing on the cake 😉

Dinner:

Salad, beef and broccoli~chinese style and coconut flour bread

Again, terrible picture (gotta work on that), but tasted heavenly. I actually used deer tenderloin instead of beef. So, yummy! The deer and broccoli had sesame oil and lots of garlic. I planned on cooking cabbage with this, but ran out of energy. Never fear, this is a meal we WILL be having again!

My Dr. only wants me to eat every 5 hours and all of these meals kept me plenty satisfied until time to eat again 🙂 WooHoo!! Off to a good start on my ‘list’!